India, Africa Push Stronger Global South Partnership

India and African nations have called for a stronger Global South partnership in Addis Ababa, urging deeper cooperation in trade, technology, infrastructure, and development to shape a more inclusive and balanced global order.

The Indian and African governments have advocated for a more proactive relationship that will serve the interest of the Global South and be more influential in the formulation of the international order. This proposal has been forwarded at the "Partners for Progress: Africa and India in the Emerging Global Order" forum that took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The forum included policy makers, diplomats, businessmen, researchers, and experts in development to find ways for strategic cooperation. The event has been hosted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and CDRC.

The participants underscored the fact that India and Africa have similar development agendas and challenges; therefore, South-South collaboration is more relevant than ever before in the current context of geopolitical volatility, disruption in the global supply chains, climate change, and economic fragmentation. They argued that the Global South needs to play a much bigger role in the reform of the global governance bodies and inclusive economic development.

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Areas such as trade, investment, digital public infrastructure, health, renewable energy, agriculture, education, critical minerals, manufacturing, and technology formed the central topics of discussion in terms of increased cooperation. In this regard, it was mentioned that the experience in the development process of India, its digital revolution, and capacity building provide many chances for cooperation between Africa and India in the quest to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

In addition, the delegates pointed out that there is a need to increase the connections between India and Africa through improved connectivity and reliable supply chains as well as collaboration between the two parties in the private sector. In this respect, the significance of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been mentioned, showing the role of increased connections between India and Africa in helping the process of industrialization and value addition.

The summit also underscored India’s historic support for Africa through developmental collaborations, capacity building programs, concessional finance, and technological cooperation. It was observed that India had always championed more representation of developing countries in international bodies and also played an instrumental role in the admission of the African Union to permanent membership of the G20. There was a special emphasis on the need to maintain political dialogue and institutional collaboration.

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The speakers agreed that the changing global scenario offered the chance for both India and Africa to collaborate and contribute towards making the international system a more balanced and multi-polar system. The speakers highlighted that better collaboration between Global South nations would enable the resolution of common problems such as food security, resilience against climate change, energy transition, health, and digital inclusiveness along with sustainable development and economic growth. It is through collaboration that India and Africa intend to become important factors in shaping the global order.